Girls Under Glass

Interview by Francesco Palumbo

Within a few time "Frozen", your newest album will be out. Would you
anticipate anything about its musical characteristics and its meaning
after "Nightmares"?

Nightmares was a special record that chronology of over a decade of work
by the band which included
Some new tracks, some tracks never released, some out of print and some
that were Girls Under Glass classics. The new record "Frozen" is mostly
all new material that is very fresh and powerful. We think this is our
most accessible record we have made to date. Every song is well crafted
and we even do a cover version of the Madonna song "Frozen" which is the record's title track.

And about lyrical approach, what can you tell me about this new creature?

We went back to our roots. This record is more melodic than previous
works. Frozen combines the crossover from industrial to gothic to
synthpop. This record is a reflection of years of perfecting our craft as
well as years in this business. We all drew on our over decade of
experiences in making of this record.

Your latest studio album has been described as the hardest G.U.G.'s album ever released. Is "Frozen" destined to be its natural successor?

I believe you are referring to Firewalker that came our several years
before as this was our hardest studio record made to date. We donŐt
believe is was hard from a metal side but definitely our angriest piece of
work to date. For Frozen we are in a better state of mind and it is more
of a reflection as well as returning to the melodic music we do best. This
record is more of a crossover masterpiece!

What kind of changes you feel inside yourself and in your music if you
compare this new album with the previous ones?

The last record Nightmares was a chronology of works over the life of the
band. Frozen is the next step forward for the band into the new
millennium. Nightmares depicts over a decade of our experiences in this
business as well as personal life. It is more of a musical biography of
the band as we have grown through the years. We feel the new record Frozen
in the product of our years of experience.
We have matured as both people and musicians as Frozen depicts.

You have celebrated the deal with Van Richter with "Nightmares" a "best
of" album with some unreleased tracks. Why a similar choice and above all
are the things with your new label working out well? It seems they are
doing a great job for supporting your release.

This was our first U.S. release so we wanted to make a big splash into
this market by bringing forth our best material to date as well as making
new exclusive tracks for this record "Halloween" etcÉ
Again this is not so much a best of record but a chronology of the bandŐs
best music(past, present and future). Van Richter has done a great job for
us. We have never received this much support from a label.
The exposure has been great especially since the market for our genre of
music is very difficult.
We respect a label like Van Richter that supports artistic integrity and
has stayed true to the genre for over eight years. We look forward to
putting out many more records.

You are probably one of the first bands who have proved to melt
different kinds of music in your style. It is not a mystery that in your
sound can be heard Industrial elements, Dark Wave facets and Electronic
sounds but sometimes also Metal recalls. What is the reason of this
multiplicity of elements? Is it simply the way you use to represent in
music the different facets of your soul or is there anything more behind
this choice?

This is the signature of the Girls Under Glass sound hereby we integrate
all these genres into it. However the result is uniquely our own. Every
member of GUG brings their musical experiences into the band that we have
incorporated over the years. There is no intention to be a metal
industrial or gothic band. We believe everyone can identify a GUG song.
Even when we listen to the older GUG material it still sounds amazingly
fresh and new. We try to make our sound timeless so people will always be
interested in GUG.

This is the 15th year you live under G.U.G. I think that for you it has
been like to see a son growing up in your hands. In which way did it
transform during these years and moreover is there anything that can be
considered absolutely identical to your debuts?

We believe we have matured as musicians and people. In the initial years
we did not have a cohesive band core until Volker took over the vocals and
that is when we were able to start to make our best music.
Over the years we have developed our skills and craft and we believe we
have improved with every record. However we can look back over all these
years and be proud of our work.
Our debut was with a different line up but again we have returned to our
melodic roots but this time
Writing and performing at our best in our career.

In your music technology has a great importance. Do you think that it is just a medium for humanity or, as a lot of people say, it will annihilate human fantasy? What fascinates you about technology?

Technology makes a good servant but we do not which to serve it. Axel is a
technological genius and has invented Midi equipment unique to GUG. He has
also make Midi gear for Die Krupps among others.
Technology is not our enemy. We still need to know how to play our
instruments but we could not reach
Our goals without it. Technology is responsible for the evolution of the
genre and subgenre of Industrial music today.

Without any doubt G.U.G. can be considered a sort of Cult band. Which
are your sensations about this considering all those years? Was it a thing that you expected when you started this project?

We were one of the first bands in the genre that was not a Sisters of
Mercy clone coming out of Germany
So we always had a mystic about us. We donŐt mind the cult status but too
much of it is as a gothic band which is only one aspect of GUG. We never
expected to be big rich rock stars when we started the band
And appreciate that we do have cult status. We hope more people will find
out about us outside of the Gothic cult. We hope Frozen will be our big breakout crossover record. Hopefully our Wolfsheim duet "Grey In Grey" on this record will help as well.

Various are your side-projects too. Would you try to up-date me about them? Who is the one closer to GUG's attitude and also importance?

Here is a list of our side projects and relatives. Trauma is closest to
GUG's attitude and importance

Cassandra Complex (Zaphor joined the band 1990 and is still playing with them)

Cancer Barrack (close friends of GUG, Zaphor was singer of Cancer Barrack from 1989-1990, Axel was founding member of Cancer Barrack and left the band 1990)

REC a one-off project founded by Peter Spilles of PROJECT PITCHFORK and York Eysel of LOVE

LIKE BLOOD (Axel and Zaphor playing several instruments on several songs)

STILL SILENT (Mindy Kumbaleks project. MINDY is keyboard player of GOETHES ERBEN, theatre music act, cult in germany. Zaphor playing guitar on several tracks. Musicians from many german bands join in the project

NEFKOM (Axels project together with Markus Reinhard of WOLFSHEIM. 100% electronic music, inspired by Kraftwerk). Founded in 1995, two records

Traum-B(Axels and Haukes Goa, PsychedelicTrance-Project) founded in 1998, compilations and live gigs. No album out so far.

NEUSTART followupband of NEFKOM together with STALIN singer Christoph. Crazy, weird music with even weirder lyrics that would definitely be on censorship list in the USA.

You come from Germany and have a deal now with Van Richter Rec. an American label. Which are the most important differences between Europe and USA above all in their attitude towards music?

Well we were on Strangeways most of our career and they did not care about
us outside of Germany.
Van Richter is working for us on a global basis. Record industry people
are pretty similar no matter what country they come from. We don't care
what country a label comes from as long as they care about our music. So
far Van Richter has given us the most support for our music and career.

After all those years is there a person which you would like to work with?

Many of the bands we have done cover version of over the years like Gary
Numan, Simple Minds, and John Carpenter.

What is the episode you lived during those years that you'll remember as long as you live?

There are many on tour (two many) including a plane crash. Also meeting one of our heroes Gary Numan was also an important experience.

Light/Darkness. Which is your side?

We cover both depending on mood. We have been to the depths of darkness as
well as seen the light side with our new record! We have covered songs of
love and hate over our long career. We have multi dimensions to our
personalities.

To end it a curiosity of mine that surely you have answered thousand
times. Why Girls Under Glass and in which way is born this name?

It is just nonsensical words like Sisters of Mercy. It just had a good
sound to it and something people would remember. There is no big story
behind its meaning. We were just thinking up names and this one was right
for the band and the genres we travel in.

What can we look forward to from G.U.G. in the near future? Maybe a tour?

First and most important the new "Frozen" record will be released this
summer and then some European Festival dates. Next year the record
Equilibrium will be released on Van Richter. Look for all those details on
our website http://www.vanrichter.net/gug.html
Thank you for the interview and look out for all the Girls Under Glass
activities this coming year!